Vancouver Breakout (Old)
by Legendary Junk Mail
Summary: AU: Zaire Shepard has been on Earth to prevent a war between the Alliance and the Batarians for 5 months, since then she has had no contact with the outside world, or so the Alliance believes. Shepard has been coordinating Cerberus Ops. changing Citadel politics with the Shadow Broker and building an Army on Omega. Now the Batarians have gone dark and Shepard needs to leave.
1. Long Term Planning

A/N: Hello and welcome to my first (Proper) Fanfiction, this story rang around in my head for a while until I decided 'fuck it I'll wright it down and post it' please do keep in mind this is my second time ever posting something so there will probably be something slightly buggy about it. Anyway 'I do not own Mass Effect' that honor goes to Bioware (unfortunately).

 **Note: this Chapter has been updated**

* * *

 **The Citadel**

 **Zaire Shepard**

" _Zaire you look absolutely amazing, I was afraid you would turn up in armour" exclaimed Liara as I turned around to see her, when I did however my breath caught in my throat._

 _Liara was dressed in a rather reviling dark blue dress. One which left the valley between her breasts exposed and arms bare, still my rather distracted mind said 'at least the dress reaches her ankles.' It also happened that the dress was the same colour as her skin and due to its rather close fit, it left little to the imagination._

 _Zaire slowly walked up to Liara and pulled her into a kiss. "_ Pour toutes les choses saintes _Liara if this party wasn't full of dignitaries you wouldn't be able to stop me from ravishing you" whispered Shepard. Being as close to Liara as she was Shepard couldn't help but smile in satisfaction when a shiver went down Liara's back._

" _Well …" Liara grinned mischievously, "we could leave a little early" she sighed "after all, you have just got back from a tiring mission and you really could use the rest"._

" _I couldn't agree more Doctor T'Soni" replied Shepard._

 ** _Several hours later_**

 _Liara giggled as she got out of the black skycar and Shepard couldn't help but laugh when she turned to the left instead of the right to go to their hotel._

" _Liara, I think you're going the wrong way love" Shepard called out as she paid for the Taxi._

 _Liara spun around and started walking towards the hotel without a word and Zaïre giggled as she ran to catch up. It was rare to see her bondmate drunk and Shepard had already taken some videos to show her later when Liara was sober. As they got into the lift, Liara grinned and as soon as Zaire pressed the button for her room she was tackled to the wall. Shepard's laugh turned into a moan as Liara bit down onto her neck._

 _They managed to stumble out of the elevator and into their Hotel room before they started to lose their clothes and by the time they hit the bed they were both completely naked._

 _Liara pinned Zaïre to the bed and grinned "Commander?" Zaire frowned "Commander!"_

* * *

Zaire Shepard opened her eyes and saw a reinforced window. She sighed, Samara was right, the biotic meditation technique was good to relax, though she had failed to mention how grumpy it made you when interrupted.

"What is it _géôlier_?" Shepard asked irritably.

Vega just grinned "Package for ya _Lola_ " and held out a black and red metal box.

Shepard sighed before saying "put it on the coffee table Vega and I'll get to it in a minute.

Vega did as Shepard asked and dropped it onto the table, "are you going to open it?" He asked "cos I gotta admit I'm curious".

"What, you didn't scan it on the way in?" Shepard remarked.

"Well, yeah but that thing is simply to find any guns or bombs, it doesn't tell me what's actually inside it" Vega retorted.

Shepard grunted in reply before lowering herself back down to the floor, she really was starting to be fed up with this whole imprisonment deal, especially after 5 months of it, but at the end of the day she would prefer that the Batarian Hegemony wasn't at war with the Systems Alliance when the Reapers showed up.

Shepard stood up and stretched before she walked over to the box, James hovering over her shoulder like a child looking at a birthday gift that wasn't actually his.

Shepard pressed her index finger to the small pad on the bottom right, the box beeped once before the pad went green and the top split open.

The first thing Shepard noticed was the flowers, roses to be specific, which made her smile as she instantly recognised who the crate was obviously from.

Vega whistled "dam Lola!" He grinned "you got a secret admirer or somthin' don't you".

Shepards reply came in the form of grabbing the flowers and throwing them at him, saying "Vega be a _Cher_ and get these some water, oh and here's a lovely vase to put them in" she said pulling out a rather beautiful glass vase out of the crate.

As Vega grumbled off to give the flowers some water, Shepard dug deeper into the package and pulled out a small velvet box inside was holding her old alliance dog tags, except this time there was something else attached to them. Shepard grinned happily at the red and blue infused crystal encapsulated with small strands of a silvery metal, Titanium most likely.

Shepard immediately put them it round her neck and reached for the last item in the crate, a large digital picture frame which had multiple pictures and videos of her and Liara in them.

Vega returned with the vase full of water and placed the flowers in them before saying "You know Lola if I didn't know better I'd say you were just using me for your 'enjoyment'" grinning at her.

"Sorry Vega I'm spoken for" Shepard replied and threw the picture frame at him, Vega caught it and looked down at it before frowning.

"Hey Lola, I swear I seen her before somewhere, what's her name?" James said. "Liara T'Soni" Shepard replied, still starting at the bottom of the create with a frown, standing up she turned to look at him.

James snapped his fingers, "That's where I've seen her before, she has an asari colleague called Treeya Nuwani" James face fell and finished quietly "we don't talk much after … Fehl Prime".

Shepard just grunted and held out a hand, Vega gave back the picture frame to her before asking quietly "what was it like, the Collector Homeworld, I mean?"

"Wasn't a planet Vega, It was a 4 Kilometre long space station, and quite frankly, it was _morts_ , it felt dead inside." Was Shepard's reply.

Vega nodded once before turning to the door and leaving. Shepard sighed before walking into her bedroom, 'as far as prisons went the bed here wasn't too bad' she thought.

She placed the picture on her bedside table. Shepard undressed and got into bed, once she was comfortable she opened up her Omni-tool.

Technically speaking she wasn't supposed to have one, but the one she had was a subdermal model and was designed to fool scanners. Shepard opened a chat room and sent an invite, waiting, sure enough 2 minutes later she got a reply.

* * *

 _Z.S - I suppose that there is something hidden in the false bottom_

 _L.T - of course, did you like my little gift?_

 _Z.S - the addition to the dog tags or the flowers?_

 _L.T - flowers wilt and die dear, but diamonds are forever_

 _Z.S - you've been though my movie collection again haven't you!_

 _L.T - I assure you, nothing of the sort has happened ;)_

 _Z.S - when I get my hands on you Li I'm going to make sure you can't walk for days!_

 _L.T - don't tempt me dear_

…

Z.S - Li?

 _L.T - the Batarians went silent a week ago, and I sent probes to see why_

 _Z.S - please don't tell me what I think it is_

 _L.T - I'm sorry love, the probes counted over 1,000 Sovereign class Reaper vessels in orbit over Khar'shan_

 _Z.S - then it's time to start moving_

 _L.T - agreed, I notified Miranda and she is moving Cerberus assets into position_

 _Z.S – good, what about Aria, is she holding up her part in the deal?_

 _L.T – yes we have her full support and clear 'air' space to move through, and Wrex just gave me an update an hour ago, his troops are ready to move, all he needs is transport_

 _Z.S - The Geth and Rachni?_

 _L.T - ready to move on our signal_

 _Z.S – then all is left is for me to get out of here before the Reapers target Earth_

 _L.T – I have agents moving in now, they should be ready to move by earths next night cycle_

 _Z.S – excellent ... btw? What was with the fancy vase you sent?_

 _L.T – Cloaking device in the base of it_

 _Z.S – best_ Petite Amie _ever!_

 _L.T – Wait until you see the dreadnoughts_

 _Z.S – DREADNOUGHTS? What dreadnoughts?_

 _L.T – good night love_

 _Z.S – Liara?_

…

 _Liara T'Soni has left the Chat_

 _All conversations will be Deleted in 1 minute 22 seconds_

 _Z.S –_ faucheurs de barrage de Dieu _!_

* * *

 _Thanks for reading!_

 _Please leave a review if you have the time, even if its a 'I enjoyed it'_

 _~ JunkMail_


	2. Operation Prometheus

_A/N: hello and welcome to my second chapter of V.B_

 _I do not own mass effect, bioware does ... darn._

 _I am posting these two chapters close together because I'm on a roll and I have nothing better to do._

* * *

 **13.09.2188**

" _ **This is Alpha, we are past the fence and coming up on the fire escape now"**_

" _ **This is Beta, were past the walls and are rappelling to the roof … now"**_

" _ **This is Charlie, going dark and moving in on my mark … Mark"**_

" _ **This is OverWatch, we have eyes on all entrances and exits and all teams are clear to continue"**_

" _This is Shadow Director, I expect this to be done quickly and quietly, failure is not an option am I clear?"_

 _ **Alpha Confirmed**_

 _ **Beta Confirmed**_

 _ **Charlie Confirmed**_

 _ **OverWatch Confirmed**_

" _Then you are clear to proceed, be advised VIP knows your coming and has a Tactical Cloak ready. Shadow Director Out"_

 **Charlie 1 looked at his stealth group, 2 Turians, 2 Salarians, 1 Quarian and himself a Human leading, and he couldn't help but grin, the Citadel Council could claim to be the biggest multicultural society, but The Galactic Special Forces or the GSF was defiantly the most integrated multi-species Force ever devised. And now they had the honor of retrieving one of their Directors from Alliance Custody.**

" **All right you heard the Shadow Director, stealth is the primary goal of this Op. and I want no mistakes. Charlie 2 goes with C3 and C5 and moves to let in Alpha team, C4 and C6 with me. We need to clear a safe passage between here and the roof."**

* * *

 **Alpha 1 grunted when the Fire Escape opened, the alarm having been deactivated beforehand. "Alpha team move to VIP, Charlie team is covering you" OverWatch stated. "You heard the lady people, move to primary target" growled the Turian leader.**

 **Alpha came to the corner that led to the VIP's door and saw 2 Alliance Marines standing guard, just as Intel said there would. The Turian holstered his pistol and drew his rifle, a modified Mattock rifle which fired Taser rounds instead of grains of metal. Before he could line up a shot however, one of the specialists pushed the gun down.**

 **"No need, I can do it quieter" the human female winked at him before disappearing from sight. A few seconds later and there was a muffled 'thump' and when Alpha 1 looked around the corner again all he saw was a pair of legs getting dragged into the VIP's room.**

 **Two minutes passed and the door shut. Alpha 1 frowned before hearing someone clearing their throat and turned to see the specialist and the VIP standing behind them. Alpha 1 blinked once before signaling Alpha 2, who promptly dropped the bag he'd been carrying and opened it. Alpha 2 handed the VIP her armoured plates,** **helmet and spare mattock rifle + pistol.**

* * *

 **5 Minutes earlier.**

Zaire Shepard was doing some light meditative techniques when her subdermal Omni-Tool started buzzing. Shepard opened it and read the message: _Operation Prometheus has started - SB._

Shepard smiled and shut the Omni-Tool down, she then got up and walked over to the box still sitting on the coffee table where James placed it. This time she placed her thumb to the scanner before speaking the pass phrase "Prometheus". The box bleeped twice and the red highlights on the box turned blue, the bottoms of the box opened to reveal a suit of skin tight under armour and two knives.

It took four minutes to get the under armour on and sealed, strap on the knives and place the magnetic locks on her thighs, hips, back, shoulders and arms. And another minute to remove the bottom of the vase to get the cloaking device.

She had just finished the diagnostic test on the cloaking device when she heard a 'thump' out side the door. Quickly she strode over to the door and opened it to let the two guards be dragged in by someone in a tactical cloak, while the cloaked operative felt with them Shepard moved to her bedroom and grabbed her bag.

Turning round to leave she saw that the operative had decloaked and was sitting on top of the crate grinning ear to ear. "Kasumi?" laughed Shepard, "why am I not surprised it's you helping me escape custody?". Kasumi laughed as well "you know that when Liara gave me the opportunity for this, I couldn't possibly say no".

Shepard smiled and asked, "anyone else from the _équipage_ here?" Kasumi nodded "Thane is helping with over watch, and Jack and Grunt are waiting as backup in the Kodak for when our _rakku_ runs out again".

 _"Bien_ _"_ Shepard said they both cloaked and walked out the former prison shutting the door behind them. She followed kasumi, using the IFF system built into her cybernetic eyes to see her, and grinned when they walked around a team of GSF operatives to stand behind them. They both decloaked before Kasumi coughed to get their attention, the apparent team leader, a turian, spun around to face the noise and paused, probably to proccess what he was seeing, after a two second pause he motioned to the other turian, who dropped a bag and opened it.

After getting properly armed and armoured, the turian spoke up, "Director Shepard I'm Alpha 1, we are part of the operation to get you out of here, we are going to head to the roof where we can repel down to the ground and make our escape to a LZ 2 miles from here." Shepard nodded and replied "then lead on Alpha 1".

* * *

 _AN: thank you for reading and please if you have the time review so I know what I'm doing right and wrong. Even if it's a simple 'I like it'_


	3. Shepards Luck - Ashley Williams POV

_A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter 3 of V.B._

 _Quick note: Thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this, it gives me the motivation to get this finished._

 _And thank you JimmyHall24 - every little helps for someone like me, who's new to writing._

 _As before, I do not own mass effect._

* * *

Ashley Williams groaned as she sat up, she hated this, every time she had a moment to herself she couldn't help but think about Shepard. Honestly, who did Cerberus think they were going to fool anyway? Shepard had always been the most pro-alien of the old Normandy crew, hell she was secretly dating Liara T'Soni, an Asari for Gods sake.

Then she shows up 2 and a half years later, claiming to back from the dead and working for Cerberus because the Alliance wasn't doing enough about a bunch of wildcat colonies disappearing. Sure, Collectors were involved, but from the constant rumours throughout the decades they were already slavers of some kind, so it wasn't anything overly new. All the Collectors were doing was taking a more frontal approach, which the Alliance was already countering.

Ashley sighed again and got up. If she wasn't going to sleep she might as well try to tire herself out first with a jog around the outer hallway, it ran around the entire floor, so she could do a few laps before going back to bed.

She was on her second lap when she noticed something odd, she could have sworn that Shepards Cell was on this floor, but she couldn't see any guards down any of the hall ways. Ash stopped for a moment and tapped her Omni-Tool, she was right, Shepards door was down this hall. Getting suspicious she crept down the hall towards Shepard's room, once there she used her security clearance to open the door.

Ashley openly stared at the two tied and gaged officers who should have been on guard duty, Ash quickly checked the other rooms and saw nothing apart from the crate on the coffee table and the half broken vase on the floor.

At this point Ashley grabbed one of the guards Omni-Tools and hit the panic button on the underside. 5 seconds later and the guard's emergency comm. started flashing. Williams didn't see it however, because she was already out of the room and running.

As she was running Ash opened her Omni-Tool and punching in an emergency call to Admiral Anderson, who picked up two seconds later. "What's your status Lt. Cmdr.?" Anderson asked, not bothering with pleasentaries. "Sir, I just notified security, Shepards broken out of her Cell and knocked out her two guards" as Williams updated the Admiral she grabbed some light gear from the security station.

She activated the Kinetic Barrier System and chambered a thermal clip in her Avenger. She knew things were going to get ugly soon.

"I'm in contact with the Head Security chief and he says that all of the cameras on Shepard's floor to the roof are looped footage" Anderson stated.

"Roof, got it" Williams replied as she made a be-line for the nearest stairs. As she did however, there was a _colossal_ _boom_ and most of the non-bullet proof windows shattered, before reports of gunfire in the entrance started coming through the securities main channel. Ashley grinded her teeth, the gunfight downstairs was either Shepard making a break for it, or a distraction.

Four seconds passed before Ash decided that there were going to be plenty of people heading downstairs and that she needed to get the roof secured.

Spotting a six man Alliance team she quickly started barking orders, "You six with me, we need to secure the roof, now".

The team quickly fell in behind her, and the apparent leader asked her quickly "what's the situation ma'am?"

"Shepards escaped her cell and no one is reporting in on the roof, Admiral Anderson ordered me to clear the roof and personally, I think the gunfight downstairs is a distraction".

"Leaving the traitor to walk to a rooftop extraction" grunted another of the security team, "clever".

"Not clever enough" replied Williams.

The seven man team reached the roof, only to find it locked.

"Keep clear!" Yelled a Security officer before pulling out a heavy shotgun, and activated an armour piercing mod.

The team moved back as the operative placed the barrel next to where the lock was, and pulled the trigger once, twice and a third time before moving out of the way.

The operative next to Williams moved in and used his heavy armour to shield them as he opened the door manually. And was instantly hit with a grenade, even as the man in heavy armour was thrown back, everyone was rushing in around him to find cover.

Williams had enough time to see 12 men and women of all different species, all wearing black armour with dark green highlights, before having to duck into cover.

The remaining five security team spread out, giving cover fire. Ashley however stayed in cover a activated her Omni-Tool, this time it took longer for Anderson to pick up, though when he did Ashley didn't waste any time before yelling "12 hostiles on the roof, no sign of Shepard!"

"Confirmed Lt. Cmdr. Williams, reinforcements are on the way to your location now." Anderson replied calmly.

"Hostiles consist of Humans, Turians, Salarians, Asari and Quarians Sir, and they are heavily armed!" Williams stated, before bracing, as the call of a grenade went out.

Williams barely caught the end of Anderson's reply but understood and stated "grey under armour, black over plates with green highlights Sir. No other marks or symbols I can see."

As she finished her sentence however, she spotted something else. "Sir! A Kodiak is approaching, where are those reinforcements?"

"They just hit the stairs, Williams" informed Anderson.

The Kodiak landed on the roof, and Williams noted the larger size and heavy armour attached just before the doors swept open and a Krogan stepped off, carrying a heavily tattooed, human woman on it's shoulders.

The Krogan gave a deep rumbling chuckle, before ratcheting the Heavy Machine Gun in its hands, all of the security team turned and fired at the Krogan. But the woman on it's shoulders, a biotic, threw up a powerful _Green tinted_ barrier, while the Krogan stepped forward and started to hose down the entire battlefield with suppressive fire.

Williams had enough time to duck before she was shredded. By the time the suppressive fire stopped the Kodiak was leaving with the 12 Man team on board. Ashley had just enough time to see Shepard holding a helmet in her hands, before the door shut and the shuttle take off into atmosphere.

* * *

Anderson sighed heavily as Williams finished her report on what happened on the rooftop.

He turned to look at Admiral Hackett, Flesher, Mikhailovich and Fleet Master Barrett.

"The team of snipers and Krogan who hit the entrance disappeared into the city, and we haven't found them yet, so we can probably assume that they are off planet now as well."

"What about the security tapes?" Asked admiral Hackett.

"Most floors had looped security tapes from last week's Thursday, but we did manage to get access back to the rooftop cameras, for the firefight anyway." Responded Anderson.

"While we couldn't confirm Shepard was present, apart from the Lt. Cmdr.'s sighting. A person matching her figure and height was with them, but disappeared under tactical cloak when you and the security team showed up." Commented Hackett.

"We also found grappling gear on the side of the building, we believe that Shepard was ment to get to the roof and repel down the side of the building, where she would disappear into Vancouver." Said Anderson.

"Without anybody the wiser until dawn." Realised Barrett.

"Did forensic's get anything?" Admiral Mikhailovich, spoke of the first time.

"An Alliance Operator on the roof managed to hit one of the Turians in the leg as he tried to get to the Kodiak, we sent the blood results to the Hierarchy, they got a hit." Spoke FM Barrett.

"Apparently his name is Tuius Laenis, he's former BlackWatch, and was part of the turian councilors guard, last known affiliation was with the Shadow Broker." He continued.

"So Shepard is working for the Shadow Broker and, has 'in the past' taken resources from Cerberus, what the hell is she up to?"

"It gets more confusing" stated Hackett. "We recovered one of the Mattock's they were using, we found both Geth technology _and_ signs of Collector technology integrated into the design."

"The Collectors tech makes sense, since she was claiming to be hunting them when on Horizon, though how she has got hold of Geth technology I don't know" Ashley commented.

"Agreed" said Hackett.

"Anything else?"

"The tattooed biotic woman on the Krogan's shoulders was identified via facial recognition software, she was a Cerberus experiment as a child, years ago, called Subject Zero, she's now wanted from here, to Hanar space." Stated Barrett.

"Hanar space, Sir?" Ashley asked.

"Crashed a space station into one of their moon's 'because she was bored' apparently, she was last seen at the prison 'Purgatory' registered under Jack, which was reported destroyed over ten months ago by a Cerberus ship, specifically, the Normandy SR2."

"Why the hell did she join Shepard then? We know from reports Cerberus was hunting her and she hated them." Asked Mikhailovich.

"No idea."

"Her Green biotic's?"

"No idea either."

...

"What happened to the escape shuttle itself?" Asked Mikhailovich.

"Disappeared the moment it left atmosphere, and the registry buoy beside the Sol Relay registered one ingoing, and outgoing unknown IFF signature." Replied FM Barrett.

"Stealth technology?"

"Most likely, since nothing came up on sensors."

"The SR2 probably."

...

"I'm getting too goddam old for this shit" grunted Barrett.

The Admirals all silently agreed.

* * *

 _Thank you for reading, as always._

 _If you have questions please ask me through PM or the review section._

 _Please let me know if you enjoyed this chapter, or hated it._

 _Just make sure you tell me why._

-Junk Mail


	4. Shepards Luck - multi-pov

_A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter 4 of V.B_

 _Last chapter I changed POV to Ashley because I wanted to give an unexpected and new prospective on how Operation Prometheus went, this time it's Kasumi's POV, (with a little Thane) because let's face it they are both underused as a significant character and I want to help change that._

 _I do not own Mass Effect … sigh, the possibilities._

* * *

 **Kasumi giggled "this is going to go down in the history books Blue, you do realise this, right?"**

 **Liara smiled and answered with a wave of her hand, "considering everything that's going to happen, combined with what has happened, and this is going to be easy as it is simple, Kasumi."**

 **"Send me the details Blue, and I will get to work on a good entry/exit strategy"**

 **"There is no need, Kasumi" Liara replied "we have one drawn up already, I will send it to you in a moment."**

 **"Then why do you need me?" Asked Kasumi.**

 **"Because I want to see what the Alliance's response is, and to do that, I need someone to break into the Alliance's main server room and data storage hub, under the Vancouver base, and place a secure data tap to remove video evidence and listen in on Alliance Comm. chatter." Liara grinned, "I think it's a job for a professional infiltrator, don't you agree?"**

 **Kasumi giggled once, nodded and** **disconnected from the call, oh this was going to be unbelievably fun! She could already think of the expensive and priceless objects in a place like the main Alliance Military Headquarters for Earth.**

 **'Besides' she thought, 'it would be great to see some of the Normandy Crew again'.**

* * *

 **3 days later.**

Shepard crossed her arms behind her back, "Then lead on, Alpha 1" she stated.

The Turian nodded once before signalling the rest of Alpha team to move back the way they came.

I giggled before mock whispering "I'll scout ahead" and then quickly cloaking. Moving ahead of the others I reached the stairs and took a look both down and up. Once I'm sure no one is moving floors I activate my Omni-Tool to call Alpha 1.

As I am however I notice a Alliance Officer jog past in standard Alliance P.T kit, I sneak over to check she's gone, as I do my Omni-Tool buzzes and I answer. "Your clear to the stairs, though watch out for an officer in P.T gear, it looks like she decided to take a jog around the edge of the building."

"Roger that Specialist, Alpha team is moving to you now." Alpha replied.

Three minutes passed and Alpha team turns the corner. I nod to Shepard as she passes before heading down, away from Alpha.

Once I got to the basement I walk to the vault/door and typed in the combination Liara gave me. The pad turned green and the door slid open, revealing a automated security station.

The station systems let her walk right past, due to Kasumi placing her ID into the system yesterday. Skipping over to one of the servers near the back, Kasumi reached into one of her pockets and brought out a small data tap. Pulling one of the hardware racks out, she slipped the data tap into a port at the back, once this was done she pushed the rack back in.

Kasumi then opened one of the holo screens and accessed the data on Shepard, and provided a gateway to the device she just plugged in.

Kasumi was about to close the holo when she saw something that caught her eye, the QEC connection to Arcturus station was here as well!

She quickly added another gate to the QEC connection before logging out.

All she needed to do now was remove her digital traces and she was good to meet up with Shepard on the roof.

* * *

Thane smiled slightly as Alpha team met up with Beta team on the roof. 'Good, Shepard's moving quickly' he thought.

Thane took a deep breath, before moving his Widow to scan the floors below them. The cybernetics in his lungs working to keep him from suffocating due to lack of Oxygen in his blood stream.

The Illusive Man may not have had it in mind, but thanks to him and project Lazarus, cybernetic additions used on Shepard's lungs could also be used to stop Keplers Syndrome in Drell.

A flash of motion caught his attention, the same woman previously jogging was now running to the nearest security station. The Drell frowned, before speaking into the Comm.

"This is Specialist Krios. We may have a witness, she is the Alliance Officer that was jogging, she is now running for a security station and talking on a Omni-Tool."

Just as he finished his sentence however, a alarm went off. The Drell sighed before sighting up the entrance. Charlie team moved past his cross-hairs, one of them stopping to plant explosive charges.

"This is Charlie 4, detonating explosives in 3, 2, 1 ..."

Thane moved his eyes away from the scope at 3 and closed them at 1. The _boom,_ caused near by windows to shake and armed Alliance personnel started to move towards the entrance.

"This is OverWatch 1, distraction team you are cleared to move in."

10 seconds later and four skycars landed near the entrance, and 8 heavily armed and armoured Krogan got out. The Alliance security had enough time to duck back into the reception area before heavy rounds started tearing through reinforced concrete. As the Krogan moved forward, Thane kept his eyes on the floors below the roof.

Krios's eyes spotted what he was looking for and stated over the Comm. "Alpha and Beta, be warned, a 7 Alliance Officers are moving to the rooftop from the stairs you came up from."

"Roger that specialist Krios. Moving into a defensive position now."

Thane kept his eyes on the the Alliance strike team moving to the roof, once they disappeared behind concrete he turned his eyes skyward to look for Alliance air support that will be incoming soon.

'In hindsight' Thane thought 'having a plan B was probably a smart idea.' Remembering the grumbling that went through the teams when it was brought up, and smiling when he thought of the Quarian who was adamant that they would not need a plan B, as he was sure that the cloaking tech would be sufficient. Arrogance and a reliance on technology would be the death of any professional assassin, and they were no exception to the rule.

Thane heard the gunships before he saw them, and he quickly lined up his sights on one of the engines, breathed out slowly and pulled the trigger. The _Boom_ of the rifle, followed by the kick a moment later meant that he didn't see the round hit but the smoke and fire spewing out of said engine was a good indicator of a solid hit to the engine block.

"This is OverWatch 1, to Distraction team start to fall back now, Alpha and Beta are clear and we need to move quickly."

"I hear ya OverWatch, we'll throw some smoke and meet you at the car lot, Distraction team out." Growled the reply.

Thane efficiently packed up his gear and turned to the shadows, Shepard was safe and there were minimal casualties on all sides. Perhaps they stood a chance against the Reapers after all.

* * *

 _"I'm getting too goddam old for this shit"_

Shepard burst out laughing, followed by Kasumi and Jack. Liara giggled and berried herself deeper into the crook of Shepard's arm, while Grunts rumbling chuckle sounded in the background. Thane leaning in the corner smiled, Shepard was taking the chance to hear the confused Alliance Admirals grumble to heart it seemed.

"Please tell me we have access to the footage from my last interrogation." Begged Shepard.

"I think so, let me double check" Kasumi said, opening her Omni-Tool and searching for the file.

"Why do want to watch your own interrogation Shepard?" asked Jack.

Shepard snorted "after Liara said I was getting out I decided to mess with my interrogators a bit."

"Shepard!" swatted Liara

"Does anyone remember that old Batarian Prophet, on Omega?" asked Shepard.

"of course" said Jack, "you punched him out once, remember?"

"Yeah so I decided to take a page out of his book and act all prophit'y, ya-know?"

"Oh Goddess No, please No" moaned Liara, while Jack and Kasumi fell off their chairs laughing.

"I, I got it here" Kasumi said.

"Quick play it"

* * *

 _L.P - This is the interrogation of one former Commander Zaire Shepard ID number 5923-AC-2826._

 _L.P_ _\- Zaire could you please state you name and rank?_

 _Z.S -_ _[calm]_ _Of course Lorelie or would you prefer Doctor Prestwich?_

 _L.P_ _\- Er ... Lorelie would be fine, thanks._

 _Z.S_ _\- [nods]_ _[calm]_ _My name is Directer Zaire Shepard of the GSF._

 _L.P_ _\- Er ... Directer?_

 _Z.S_ _\- [nods again]_ _[calm]_ _yes, as one of the few who has survived combat against more than one reaper, and has worked with multiple species it was deemed appropriate that I be made_ _one of the first Directors._

 _L.P_ _\- One of the first?_

 _Z.S_ _-_ _[calm]_ _yes, one of four._

 _L.P_ _\- I see, and what about the .. GSF?_

 _Z.S_ _-_ _[calm]_ _the Galactic Special Forces? yes we work to keep war from happening from the shadows and to protect the Galaxy against Multi-specie threats._

 _L.P_ _\- who else is a part of this?_

 _Z.S_ _-_ _[calm]_ _Classified_

 _L.P_ _\- The other directors?_

 _Z.S_ _-_ _[calm]_ _Classified_

 _L.P_ _\- OK ... going back a bit what are these 'Reapers' you said you survived?_

 _Z.S_ _-_ _[calm]_ _You mean other than the one that flattened the Praesidium?_

 _L.P_ _\- That was the Geth Zaire._

 _Z.S_ _-_ _[calm]_ _Why are you here Doctor? You obviously don't have the security clearance for the important bits._

 _[turns to Admiral Mikhailovich]_

 _Z.S_ _-_ _[calm]_ _But you do Admiral, tell me, have you gotten curious about why the Batarians haven't been talking for months?_

 _J.M - [angry] How do you know about that? You haven't been told, and you have no access the the Extranet!_

 _Z.S_ _\- [calm] I know many things Admiral, the perks of a dead woman walking, I believe._

 _Z.S - [calm] I would hurry home Doctor, your two kids will be worried why your late._

 _L.P - I, I, I should go!_

 _[Doctor_ _Lorelie_ _Prestwich leaves_ _]_

 _[Shepard turns to Admiral_ _Mikhailovich_ _]_

 _Z.S - [calm] They are coming Admiral, death comes for us all sooner or later, i simply delayed it, whether you like it or not._

 _J.M - [tells guards][flustered] Take her back to her room!_

 _[Zaire Shepard is taken away by guards]_

* * *

 _Thank you_ _for reading, there will be one more chapter ... I think before this is completed_

 _A Quick thanks to:_

 _MEEKVERSEFAN2.0_

 _death7559_

 _and JimmyHall24_

 _For reviewing_

 _I am literally fly by the seat of my pants with is story,_

 _it was meant to be a one-shot ... oh well._

 _-Junk Mail_


	5. when an unstoppable force

_**hello and welcome back to the last chapter of V.B.**_

 ** _Thank you to those who Reviewed, followed or favorited._**

 ** _Sorry it's late as I've been ill, getting constant headaches and to top it off going back to college._**

 ** _Note:_**

 ** _HI means Holographic Interface._**

 ** _GDV means Galactic Defence Vessel._**

 ** _~ Anyway I don't own mass effect, obviously. ~_**

* * *

Zaire Shepard sighed and swiped at the HI, book marking her progress and shutting itself down.

 _"10 minutes to the Omega 4 relay, Shepard."_

"Thank you, EDI" she replied.

Getting up and leaving her room, Shepard got into the elevator and hit the marker for the CIC. As the elevator slowly made its way to the command deck, Shepard wondered what changes would have been made to the Core System since she had last seen it, 5 months earlier.

The elevator opened and Shepard walked out, nodding at her yeoman, she headed towards the cockpit. As she neared however she managed to catch the end of Joker talking to EDI.

"-you physically around."

 _"It will be an interesting experience."_

"What will be an interesting experience?" Asked Shepard, reaching Jokers chair.

"Didn't you hear Commander? EDI is getting a physical body given to her."

"Really?"

 _"yes, R &D developed a new infiltration mech, and they have asked me to test it."_

"Wonder what else I've missed while away."

* * *

"... She wasn't kidding about the Dreadnaughts?" Stated Shepard, standing in port observation.

"Nope, welcome back Shepard." Replied Joker over the intercom.

To Shepard, the Core System had changed exponentially since her suicide run. From what she could tell, a path had been made through the debris field using powerful Mass Barrier Sheilds, creating a lane of clear space to travel through.

The 4 dry-dock space stations appeared to have been expanded in size and been tied together in a loose circle that slowly rotated.

Finally there were the research bases, spheres that were tethered to the collector base, all eight of them. Shepard smiled, they were making ground breaking progress week by week. The combined think tank of Geth/Quarian, Salarian, Asari, Human and Turian scientists were astronomical.

The only issues were upgrading something once, as they discovered, upgrading armour 10 times a month is difficult and resource draining.

Ship building was also a difficult project, though easier than expected. Due to the Quarians, they were efficiently stripping and recycling ship hulls, thanks to the Geth, they were being put together into one design, and being crewed by multiple species trained in flexible combat doctrines.

'All to stop inter-galactic death dealing God machines.' Thought Shepard approvingly.

"Well?" Asked Liara, also grinning at Shepard's expression.

"I thought we all agreed that Dreadnoughts were ineffectual against Sovereign class Reapers."

"We do, however these ones are more akin to Humanities Carriers than Turian Dreadnoughts."

"What do they carry then, Bombers?"

"No, heavy frigates, equipped with both a Particle Accelerator and Thanix Cannons. They also act as mobile command and refuel stations, so that moving ships can refuel on the go."

"There is one named after each Director" she added.

"And this is why you are the brains and I'm the muscle."

Liara blushed, before replying "i believe that the human saying is, 'you sell yourself short'".

Zaire Shepard grinned before closing in on the asari, the kiss was short but passionate, before they turned to look at their handy work.

"So, which one is named after me?" Asked Shepard.

"The GDV Unstoppable Force."

* * *

 **Council Chamber**

 ** _Z.S - [calm] They are coming Admiral, death comes for us all sooner or later, I simply delayed it, whether you like it or not._**

 ** _J.M - [tells guards][flustered] Take her back to her back to her room!_**

The Holo stilled, before switching to a picture of the forces that were engaged on the roof by Alliance forces.

"The Shadow Broker has been ignoring our attempts at talking" stated councillor Vallern.

Councillor Tevos shivered slightly, "If Shepard has the Shadow Broker on her side, along with Cerberus, she has become far more deadly."

Councillor Sperartus grunted, "The Krogan have been shifting to a war footing under Shepard's old mercenary friend Urnot Wrex."

At that statement the whole council chamber dropped several degrees.

"Omega has gone silent as well." Added Vallern.

Tevos frowned at that, she had attempted to talk to Aria to see if she recognized themercenary who helped Shepard, but she had received no answer.

"STG?" She asked.

Vallern shook his head, "nothing".

"She was taunting us in the interview yes but we are missing two important moments." Councillor Udina spoke for the first time that meeting.

"Which are?" Asked Sperartus.

"The Batarians, and this GSF she called herself a Director of."

"The Batarians are of some serious concern, they have been completely silent for months and with the disappearance of Shepard there is no real diplomatic solution, yet they have not attacked the Alliance." Noted Tevos.

"GSF May not be as far fetched as originally thought." Added Vallern.

"What?" Exclaimed Sperartus.

"Some known Shadow Broker forces disappearing, and reappear wearing black armour with green highlights. Cerberus removed multiple cells 7 months ago and rumour is the Illusive Man was compromised by 'Alien Influence' and his Lieutenant Miranda Lawson has taken his place."

"And?" prompted Tevos.

"Quarian Migrant Fleet disappeared 8 months ago, near Geth border after recalling those on pilgrimage. Admiral Tali'Zora was said to be in heavy discussion with the admirality board." Continued the Salarian councilor. "Omega is in the same system as the Omega-4 relay, home of the Collectors."

Udina, sighed, "please get to the point Vallern."

Vallern just blinked once before replying. "Shepard crossed Omega relay and stopped Collectors, took system for her base of operations, hence collector tech. Omega is used as forward operating base, and resource attainment. Krogan excellent ground troops and shock troops, with Shadow Broker and Cerberus special forces for covert assignments. Shadow Broker has an extensive intelligence network to be used. Cerberus resources for R&D purposes. Quarians have largest navy and Shepard has the best and most secure relay in the galaxy."

The silence in the chamber was deafening to the other three councilors.

"Are you ... suggesting that Shepard has access to an Army, Navy and intelligence network capable of rivaling parts of this council?" Stuttered Tevos.

Councillor Vallern nodded "very likely. Will have STG start gearing up to war status."

"I will notify the Primarch and suggest an increase in ship building." Stated Sperartus.

"I will notify the Council of Matriarchs, though I imagine they will be reluctant to deploy asari commandos."

Udina grunted and gruffly stated "the Alliance navy was already building up for the Batarians, we will help however we can."

"Then we best end this session to communicate with our respective governments."

The four Councilors all turned and left, all feeling that something was going on, and that Shepard was at the heart of it.

* * *

This is the end of V.B thank you to all those who Reviewed.

This was ment to be a quick one shot, but its somehow turned into this.

Anyway I'm working on a new story now as well. I watched Hitman Agent 47. So my next story is going to be a bit of a crossover.

So, thank you for reading.

~JunkMailk


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